Palin fans not sure she's ready

NEW ORLEANS – Sarah Palin dominated a sleepy Southern Republican Leadership Conference here Friday, stealing a show that had largely been ceded to her by other Republicans of national stature.

When Palin was introduced, a few thousand of her conservative admirers held up cameras to capture her image and when she concluded her remarks in the Hilton ballroom on the banks of the Missippippi River, many in the crowd surged toward the stage to shake her hand — as those remaining in the audience chanted her first name.

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In between, the crowd of southern GOP activists rose to its feet repeatedly to cheer her unrelenting attacks on President Obama, Democrats and the news media – all delivered in her rapid-fire, segue-free and at times disjointed style.

No other speaker in the first two days of this quadrennial party pep rally aroused nearly the fervor that Palin stirred, especially among her female supporters. Some wore broaches bearing her name, others held up lipstick in solidarity when she was introduced and at least one was spotted toting a life-sized Palin cut-out through the Hilton lobby.

But the SRLC, held two years before the presidential year, is traditionally an important cattle call for aspiring GOP presidential candidates, and the wide admiration for Palin among the rock-ribbed Dixie Republicans gathered in the room wasn't matched by a confidence that she was ready to run.

"I honor her a lot. She has a lot going on, but in actuality I'd like to see her run in 10 years," said Sue Lowery, a Louisiana delegate who had just yelled "We love you, Sarah," as Palin exited the stage.

"She's doing a great job of polishing and learning and after we stop this regime and have eight years with a Republican, that will be a better time for her," she said.

It was a sentiment widely echoed, even in the front rows of the gathering, where a group dominated by middle-aged women had arrived early to get close to the former Alaska governor.

"She's a good role model for women. She could be ready in four years," said Maryann Riley, a South Carolina activist clad head to toe in red, white, and blue and wearing a Palin pin.

"I admire her for what she's doing – I don't think she’s electable," said an Arkansas delegate, Kathy Ross, who said she hadn't been "comfortable" with Palin as a vice presidential selection and didn't think she was ready for that job either. "I can't see her being president of the United States," she said.

The widening gap between Palin's Republican stardom and her national prospects was reinforced Friday by a Fox News poll that found that 51% of registered voters say Palin's support for a candidate would make them less likely to support that person, while only 25% say it would make them more likely. Even within GOP ranks, other polling shows that many in the party aren't sure she's qualified for the Oval Office.

Not many would say so that directly here, but the distinction between Palin's popularity as a figure who tells it like it is rather than as a potential president was on clear display – if at times difficult for sympathetic Republicans to voice.

Rod Carney, an attendee from Mississippi, said: "I'd rather see her take over as head of the Republican Party."

He added that while he thought highly of Palin, "I don't know [if] America would ever accept her."